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Stan Sorscher

Stan Sorscher is on staff at Society for Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), a labor union representing aerospace engineers, scientists and technical workers, and is President of the Washington Fair Trade Coalition. He is active in trade, economic development, and other public policy issues. Follow Stan on Twitter: www.twitter.com/sorscher

Articles by this author

ViewsSaturday, June 11, 2016How Low Would We Go for TPP?The Trans-Pacific Partnership, the huge new 12-country trade deal, raises the question: How low would we go to get the next NAFTA-style deal? The basic idea of a trade deal is that we will lower our tariffs, you will lower your tariffs, and trade goes up. That would be a trade deal. TPP is much...Read more

ViewsTuesday, June 02, 2015TPP Reduces Human Trafficking and Child Labor to MisdemeanorsLast week, President Obama's credibility on trade policy took another punch in the neck. For months, arguments in favor of the huge new trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership have fallen flat with the public. His "hit parade of failed arguments" gives the deal an air of desperation . The...Read more

ViewsSaturday, May 16, 2015Why Is President Obama Having So Much Trouble Selling TPP?Barack Obama is cool and personable -- no-drama Obama. Then suddenly, he scolds critics of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, his NAFTA-style trade deal. He accuses them of being "wrong," unable to look at the facts, fighting the last war, confusing this new improved trade deal with NAFTA, if they don'...Read more

ViewsWednesday, December 31, 2014Why We’re Still Fighting the Last War on Trade PolicyThe other day, President Obama spoke to 100 top CEOs from the Business Roundtable. He was asked about two huge new trade deals, favored by global companies, known as TPP and TTIP. The President taunted critics of our failing trade policy, telling them, " Stop fighting the last war ." That sounds...Read more

ViewsFriday, November 07, 2014WTO in Seattle - 15 Years AgoIn November 1999, the WTO met in Seattle, where I live, to negotiate the terms of globalization. I missed it. At the time, I was negotiating a union contract. Our negotiating teams recommended rejecting a terrible contract offer. Over 98 percent of our members voted "No," leading to a 40-day strike...Read more

ViewsThursday, October 24, 2013The Trillion Dollar Money Pump for the 1%I saw the movie Inequality for All , where Robert Reich explains the depth and meaning of inequality in America. He paints a compelling picture. Reich sets up the movie with a teaser: "Something happened in the mid-'70s."Read more

ViewsFriday, September 13, 2013The 4 (or 5) Worst Market Failures in Human HistoryI'm a capitalist for one reason: to raise living standards in my community. A familiar mantra of capitalism guides me: Markets are powerful and efficient. I'm also a realist, so I temper that mantra: Markets are powerful and efficient. And markets fail. Market failure is an established, well-understood field of study in mainstream economics. Generations of economists accept the basics of market failure.Read more

ViewsThursday, June 20, 2013"Free Trade" Was Never Really About TradeWe need to think differently about trade. First, let me say that I am 100% in favor of trade. Trade is when we do what we do best, they do what they do best, and we trade. Trade, done right, will raise living standards. If trade is good, then free trade must be better, right? So consider this old joke about "free trade."Read more